Trailers Without Pity: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
1 Dec
The Trailers Without Pity train keeps a-chuggin’ with the latest from indisputably potent director David Fincher, the adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s popular The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
As with Valkyrie, I’m always puzzled when something so insanely dark and grim is trotted out as holiday fare, but then, as we say in the video, maybe that’s the antidote people need when their late December gets a little too sugary and sweet.
I still haven’t read the books, but I’m tempted to make a sprint through the first one before the movie comes out. Worth it? Let me know in the comments and enjoy the video.
I’m looking forward to this adaptation. I liked the Swedish version well enough, but didn’t think it was nearly as compelling as the book.
As for the trilogy – yes, give them a read. There are some writing quirks, ostensibly because the author died before working with an editor (that’s what I heard from a semi-reliable source), but they’re riveting nonetheless. I read them earlier this year, one after the other.
I found the parts of the book with Lisbeth to be good, and the parts with Mikael and all the financial scandal stuff to be equally boring. Still, I always vote for reading the source material.
Kate: agreed that the financial scandal stuff at the beginning of the first book dragged. Way worth getting past, though, and there was nothing even remotely as slow from then on.
I thought the books were really great, but I’m pretty biased towards series in general. I typically rip through books so quickly that I’m often left with a “that’s it” feeling upon completion.
I agree with Kate and Julie that some parts seemed to drag. I think this in part to Larsson’s strong political feelings that he seemed to weave in and out of the novels. In the trailer it seemed to be shot-for-shot of the Swedish version. Oh, and I thought the trailer was going to give me a seizure.
I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t get into it. I think I read around 100 pages before giving up. I’m interested in seeing the movie so I can perhaps understand what all the hubbub’s about.
I strongly recommend reading the books, they are really great. I saw the first Swedish film and then I read all three books. I think the first has the best plot but it’s not so well written as the second is, in fact I think that “The Girl Who Played With Fire” it’s very well written (there are some truly great gimmicks in it); as for the third, I think it’s a bit boring from time to time, in particular when Larsonn details the whole history of Säpo.
As for the films, as I “said” I saw all three Swedish ones and I’ve also seen David Fincher’s and I think Rooney Mara is not even remotely comparable to Noomi Rapace, because Noomi IS Lisbeth Salander. I got it only after I read the books. However the film has wonderful action scenes, strong pace and is very well made (obviously, I would say, being a David Fincher film).